SPARKS, Nev. (AP) — Nearly 200 Burning Man backers packed a casino meeting room mostly to complain about new conditions and restrictions the government wants to place on the counter-culture festival in the northern Nevada desert.
Many of the critics at the Bureau of Land Management's public meeting on a draft environmental statement in Sparks Monday night took aim at proposals to step up security searches and erect new barriers around the event if it's allowed to expand its capacity to 100,000 in the coming years.
Several said BLM's plans would result in environmental impacts much worse than existing conditions.
Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve voiced support for the event. Airport spokesman Brian Kulpin said every seat on every Reno flight is full three days before and after the weeklong event that culminates Labor Day weekend with the burning of a towering wooden effigy.
